find max/min value in dictionary values in VBA - excel

Question

I am using VBA to store key and value associated with the key into dictionary.
Sub Dict_Example()
Set dict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
For i = 1 to 5
dict.Add i, some number
Next i
I would like to find the highest value and its associated key in dict.
For example, if dict = {1: 5, 2: 10, 3: 6, 4: 11, 5: 3} where 1,2,3,4,5 are keys and 5, 10, 6, 11, 3 are values then it should return 4:11.
How do I do this in VBA?

Answer 1

I would generate an array from the dict.items and use Max/Min function on that. Then loop keys and compare items against that.
Option Explicit
Public Sub Dict_Example()
Dim dict As Object, max As Long, min As Long, arr(), key As Variant, i As Long
Set dict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
For i = 1 To 5
dict.Add i, i * Application.WorksheetFunction.RandBetween(0, 100)
Next i
max = Application.max(dict.items)
min = Application.min(dict.items)
For Each key In dict
Debug.Print key, dict(key)
If dict(key) = max Then Debug.Print "max= " & dict(key) & vbTab & "key= " & key
Next
Stop
End Sub

Answer 2

You could accomplish this by using a couple arrays to temporarily store your high and low values and associated keys as you iterated through the dictionary like this:
Sub test()
Dim dict As New Dictionary
Dim low(1 To 2)
Dim high(1 To 2)
Dim i As Long
Dim key
For i = 1 To 5
dict.Add i, 'some number
Next i
low(1) = dict.Keys(0)
low(2) = dict(dict.Keys(0))
high(1) = dict.Keys(0)
high(2) = dict(dict.Keys(0))
For i = 0 To dict.Count - 1
If dict(dict.Keys(i)) < low(2) Then
low(1) = dict.Keys(i)
low(2) = dict(dict.Keys(i))
ElseIf dict(dict.Keys(i)) > high(2) Then
high(1) = dict.Keys(i)
high(2) = dict(dict.Keys(i))
End If
Next i
Debug.Print low(1) & ":" & low(2) & vbCrLf & high(1) & ":" & high(2)
End Sub
But sorting like this would only work correctly for numeric values. #Ryan Wildry's comment is the way to go for generally sorting a dictionary, then you would grab your values using dict(dict.Keys(0)) and dict(dict.Keys(dict.Count - 1)) respectively where dict references your sorted dictionary.
EDIT:
You'll need to add a library reference to the Microsoft Scripting Runtime for this to work.